Mermaid marathon design

design for the women's triathlon

Pattern Design, Product Design, Graphic Design

2015

Hello!

I want to show the new process of work on the design for the final annual marathon, which was held this Sunday in San-Francisco. The route for the race extended along the Golden Gate, hence our task to use this image. Also, they decided to delve into a hippy them, given the popularity that this social movement had there.

So, I am beginning the first draft. I am putting together everything that first comes to mind when hearing the word “hippy”, and am also drawing “the Golden Gate.”

I’ve decided to put all elements inside a peace sign

Flowers are flowers, but here is the first edit. We’ll recall, that we need a hippy-mermaid. What could we do without her, the symbol of the marathon?

I’m also trying to add text to the middle of the sign. I’m putting in the mermaid and am redistributing all of the elements into a circle.

Carlo, the organizer of the marathon, is asking me to correct the composition: the first thing that hits his eyes upon looking at the sketch is the dove of peace, which is on top. Meanwhile, it is important to him that the bridge be the main object.

Also, our mermaid and guitar are the same size, and it is necessary that something sportier counterbalances the main heroine.

I am drawing the new bridge already on top, increasing the size of the surf-board and sneakers, and am making the guitar smaller.

I also notice that the letters in the center are overloading the composition. I am removing them and adding on the bridge at the top “SF RUN" (San Francisco)

We’re sticking with this variant of the sketch, and I am starting to work on the vector graphic and color.

Carlo asked for it to be bright and multicolored

I am selecting different variations of palettes

We’re starting to select the color of the cloth. This mixed palette clashes on the violet cloth.

While I am still selecting palettes, Carlo requests that we change the “SF RUN” engraving at the top. The most difficult part of this order comes from this- working on the letters. Carlo is so taken in by the idea of psychedelic typography, which is characteristic of the time of hippies, that there is no wriggling out of this new assignment of drawing the letters : )

He suggests writing under the pacifist text “peace, love, mermaid” with the same letters. I of course panicked, because in long compositions it is difficult to hide an inability to write professionally : )

In general, that size of letter doesn’t fit in.

I declined to use the idea of hand drawn letters and we’ve selected a ready font.

Now it is time to select the color of the cloth and the general palette

We’ve consulted with the team, and are selecting a light blue, but we need to make the print itself more “colorful”

I am trying this option, but it is “not colorful enough.”

We’re coloring further and sticking with this kind of palette, although I liked the former palette more.

However, the text is giving neither Carlo nor me any peace. We still need to develop a small design for the drawing on the back of the t-shirt, consisting of the words “Mermaid Athlete” or “California Mermaid,” and we will draw these letters onto souvenirs that will be awards to those who finish marathon.

I am making a sketch for two of these engravings. There are a lot of sketches, and the letters are coming along with difficulty. I am showing him the sketch for the tenth time.

I am coloring in many colors and placing them into the rectangle. This will be a keychain (charm) for those who finish.

We’ve come up with a seven-colored flower, with letters in a circle.

There is also a ribbon like on hippy bracelets, with girls in mind.

The ready production came out not quite like I imagined. I thought that the flower will be the medal, and letters will be the charm. However, Carlo decided that a square medal would be better, as he loves non-standard medals. The flower will be the charm.

It seems that they haven’t made it in time to print the hippy-ribbon with the pattern. Also, the letters m-e-r-m-a-i-d on the flower-charm weren’t printed because it came out too small, so it wasn’t approved in production.

On Sunday, finally, I was able to see everything that came out “live” on Instagram. You can see it via the tags #mermaidathlete #mermaidseries

A few little kids also took part in a specially shortened program, and appreciated the colorful bonuses.